Identify Sci-fi book set in Australia

Question

I'm trying to locate the title and author of a book I read, the plot is something like this:

• In the future / alternate reality.
• A young programmer works for a corporation and he hates it - longs for something else.
• He meets a girl who tells him she's secretly planning (with a secret club kind of thing) to leave her job for a trip to Australia (for some reason I can't remember).
• After chasing her around the city, the girl finally reveals how to join the secret club and go on the trip.
• He goes, but instead of a trip his plane crashes and he realizes that the trip is scam to weed out non-conformists and now he's stuck in the middle of Australian Outback, basically left to die.

The rest of the book is his journey across Australia and trying to survive... I won't give away the ending.

Can anyone help me remember the title & author of this book?

Answer 1

Getting Back by William Dietrich

https://www.librarything.com/work/564231/descriptions

Stifled and frustrated by company policy, Daniel jumps at the chance to go on a wilderness challenge in the Australian Outback. However, when he arrives he realises that the corporation does not intend for him to survive the trip.

It's the late 21st century and all's right with the world, which is exactly what's driving Daniel Dyson nuts. Unemployment, hunger, war, are all in the past since mass privatization has revolutionized the quality of life and the entire planet is now run by the ultra-efficient United Corporations, a single entity with a name that speaks for itself. Dyson loathes his drone-filled office in the Pacific Northwest, and the feeling is mutual. He resorts to small acts of sabotage for minor thrills until he encounters beautiful and dangerous Raven, who tells him about Outback Adventure--an updated Outward Bound.